Campus Chatter – November 22, 2012

Pope Clement V issued the Pastoralis Praeeminentiae ordering the arrest of all Knights Templar in Europe and the seizure of their assets today (1307). Also, Niterói, Brazil was founded (1573), British pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was killed in battle off the North Carolina coast (1718), Denver, Colorado was founded (1858), the clipper Cutty Sark was launched (1869), Maurice Ravel’s Boléro premiered (1928), the China Clipper took off from Alameda on its first commercial flight to Manilla (1935), Lebanon gained independence from France (1943), the Humane Society of the United States was founded (1954), President John Kennedy was assassinated and Gov. John Connally wounded in Dallas, and just over an hour later Lee Harvey Oswald arrested for the murder of a Dallas police officer (1963), the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242 setting out principles for Arab-Israeli peace negotiations (1967), the UN General Assembly granted observer status to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (1974), Juan Carlos was declared King of Spain after the death of Francisco Franco two days earlier (1975), a pirate broadcaster dressed as Max Headroom hijacked the signals of two Chicago television stations (1987), and Toy Story was released as the first feature-length, computer-animated film (1995). And Angela Merkel became the first female Chancellor of Germany (2005).

Good morning! It’s currently 24 degrees, predicted to get near 50. The weather is predicted to be clear all day, but rain is predicted for tomorrow afternoon. I will heading out to my sister’s place for Thanksgiving in a couple of hours, and depending on several variables, may show up here tomorrow evening.

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!

addisnana

Safe travels and Happy Thanksgiving.

winterbanyan

Have a safe trip, Norbrook, and enjoy the family time. Happy Thanksgiving!

NCrissieB

Happy Variables and enjoy Thanksgiving, Norbrook!

Good morning! ::hugggggs::

trs

Good morning. Turkey breast is in the crock pot, coffee in hand, Gaffer on lap. All is well. 29 degrees here, with an expected high of 54.

Iriti’s sister and mother made it in to town safely yesterday afternoon. I cooked dinner on the grill (apple chicken sausages), and then we watched last Sunday’s Mythbusters, which had Alton Brown on. They cooked a turkey dinner by strategically putting parts of the dinner in different areas of the engine compartment, over and under the catalytic converter, etc. Apparently, it turned out very well. Of course, you need the right monitoring equipment to keep track of temperature, but doesn’t everybody have stuff like that lying around?

addisnana

When I was driving home from work with a family to feed, I used to wonder if I couldn’t somehow cook dinner on the engine on the way home. Then I got a crock pot.

Enjoy your family.

http://cendax.wordpress.com Norbrook

Yes, you can, but you need to use a lot of aluminum foil, and it’s also really important that it’s not in a place where engine fluids can get to them. It’s also possible to use an iron as a hotplate. Yes, I’ve picked up a lot of “unusual” techniques over the years.

Gardener

An old friend of ours used to specialize in a “Manifold Enchilada.” First, take a 1953 Chevrolet 1 ton truck……….

winterbanyan

Cooking on a car engine was never something that occurred to me, oddly enough. First I lived in places so cold getting the engine temperature up was always fun. Then I lived in places so hot that I was the one cooking in the passenger compartment.

Oh, sure, I’ve got all that measuring equipment around. Don’t you?

Have a great day with the family, trs!

NCrissieB

That was a very cool episode of Mythbusters trs. I was not surprised that Alton Brown cooked a wonderful Thanksgiving meal using the radiant heat from the car’s engine. I was surprised by some of the recipes he used, though. As for the “turkey makes you sleepy” myth, I’d read the answer to that a year or two ago in a science journal … but it was fun to see Tori and Grant … er … demonstrate….

Good morning! ::hugggggs::

addisnana

Good morning. For people eating turkey today, NPR had an interview with paleontologist Dr. Michael Ryan whose says that all birds, including turkeys are dinosaurs.

RYAN: Yes, indeed. Every living bird is a dinosaur. Although not all dinosaurs that were alive were birds. It’s pretty unequivocal. We have Thanksgiving coming up in a few days time…

SIEGEL: We all have a big dinosaur to eat you’re saying.

RYAN: …you’ll all have a big dinosaur to eat. In fact, if you actually take – if you’re lucky enough to have a nice, big turkey and you totally consume it, as most families would do, so you’ve got a table full of bones, if you pick up one of the leg bones or one of the ribs or one of the vertebra and you hold it in your hand, it’s about the same size and shape as something like velociraptor, those little carnivorous dinosaurs you see in the movies all the time. And I would bet that if you took your upper leg bone, the femur from a turkey and held it beside a velociraptor femur that’s been fossilized for 70-plus million years, you’d have a hard time telling which one is which if you didn’t know which one was fossil.

I have no way of knowing whether Ryan is in the majority, but it makes for cool conversation on Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a good day.

winterbanyan

That is cool conversation indeed. Now if turkeys were still velociraptors, I wonder if PETA’s position would change?

Nah.

NCrissieB

Umm, the velociraptors in Jurassic Park were a lot bigger than most people’s dinner turkey. Is this guy saying that movie was not a documentary?!?

Good morning! ::hugggggs::

Gardener

I heard that…… You know, quite a few really smart people complain about NPR, but they provide me with hours of entertainment and lots of interesting stuff. I like NPR.

winterbanyan

Maybe those people aren’t so smart? Just sayin’…..

Gardener

addisnana

On Tuesday’s very long drive thru Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida NPR was a great find on the radio dial. It was NPR or right wing talk radio or religion radio.

Jim W

Gardener

We should also remember to be thankful for the “Search” feature on those radios!

We get a choice of three dinning rooms. Each with a different menu. Roast beef and salmon are on the menu in the other dining rooms.

Our four Chiefs get together and plan the Holiday (and everyday) menus based on what was chosen in the past combined with new choices.

NCrissieB

Sounds like a yummy dinner, Jim! I wouldn’t have considered cod for the Thanksgiving menu, but it makes perfect sense….

Good morning! ::hugggggs::

winterbanyan

We tried lobster one year instead of turkey. BIG mistake….;)

winterbanyan

We’re doing the traditional here today: Too much food, visitors, and I hope a lot of laughter.

We’ll roast one of the unpardoned turkeys, doing our bit for the turkey farmers of the country, make the traditional (for us) side dishes, and eventually finish off with a key lime pie whenever anyone feels they can eat again. Which might not be until Christmas, but we’ll see.

We are avoiding Black Friday but why do I have a sneaking suspicion there will be something missing from the kitchen tomorrow that will cause me to venture forth? Nah, I’m not a pessimist.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and thank you to you all!

NCrissieB

Grocery stores aren’t usually that bad on Black Friday. Just avoid retail stores … and be ready for long lines at Starbucks as people refuel to keep awake after having begun shopping in the wee hours….

Good morning! ::hugggggs::

Gardener

Good morning!

Mostly clear and 45 degrees, WX crew promises 70′s later on, then it turns much colder. We’re invited to Kenny-Wenny’s place for Thanksgiving supper. He’s roasting three 20 pounders in his gas-fired BBQ thing-a-ma-jig. I’m going over this morning to help set up the tables and chairs.

Had a great Community Thanksgiving church service yesterday evening. Everyone is invited, and the service is given by all the denominations doing a small part, with a melded choir, quite a night. My cookies were flatter than fritters, but they tasted good! Too much fooling around with the receipe I guess.

Hope everyone has a decent day. We’ve a lot to be thankful for, IMO.

Best, G

NCrissieB

Is this the famous gas-fired thingamajig that y’all built together under the supervision of ATF, FEMA, and the International Atomic Energy Agency?

Good morning! ::hugggggs::

Gardener

That’s the one!

winterbanyan

Sorry your cookies were flat, but the taste is what counts, right?

Sounds like you’re going to have a wonderful day. Blessings to you and all your friends and family!

Gardener

Thanks pal! Think I’ll head out right quick…..

winterbanyan

**breaking news** (not really.)

The first Thanksgiving in the continent of North America wasn’t celebrated by the Puritans. No, it was celebrated by Pedro Menendez de Alvarez in St. Augustine, where on Sept 8, 1565 he ordered a Mass of Thanksgiving to be followed by a feast.